Moscow speeds up its referendums and the UN meets

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news of the day

Russia is accelerating its colonization in Ukraine. The authorities installed by Moscow in four regions of Ukraine announced on Tuesday the urgent holding of September 23 and 27 of “referendums” of annexation by Russia, in the midst of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. The separatist powers of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions announced these votes, as did the Russian occupation authorities of Kherson and Zaporozhye (south).

These elections, scheduled for this week, will take place as Ukraine enters its 8th month of war and all these areas are the subject of fighting. In response, the Ukrainian presidency vowed to “liquidate” the Russian threat, while the Ministry of Defense likened those votes to Austria’s Nazi “Anschluss” in 1938.

sentence of the day

Putin is ready to hold referendums without delay for the right to use atomic weapons to defend Russian territory”

For the independent Russian analyst Tatyana Stanovaya, the holding of these votes is a clear threat from Putin to Ukraine and the West which helps kyiv and sanctions Russia. According to this expert who heads the R.Politik analysis center, these fictitious referendums would allow Moscow to use nuclear weapons.

The number of the day

300,000. President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the EU of blocking the donation of 300,000 tons of Russian fertilizer to countries that need it most, at a time when Moscow complains of obstacles to exports from Westerners.

“The height of cynicism is that even our offer (…) to transfer free of charge 300,000 tons of Russian fertilizers blocked in European ports due to sanctions to countries that need it still remains unanswered,” Vladimir lamented. Putin at a ceremony presenting credentials to around 20 ambassadors.

The trend of the day

The UN Secretary General warned on Tuesday in front of world leaders against the risk of “a winter of global discontent” due to the multiple crises affecting humanity, in particular the war in Ukraine. Americans and Europeans organized a ministerial meeting on food security on Tuesday, a consequence of this war from which the whole planet is suffering.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has contributed to worsening the food shortages faced by some of the poorest countries in the world already affected by the pandemic which has severely disrupted distribution channels, and by the climate crisis. After the Secretary General, for several days, dozens of Heads of State and Government from around the world will speak at this annual high diplomatic mass.

Ukraine should remain at the heart of the beginnings, with in particular an intervention on Wednesday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – by video thanks to a special authorization voted last week by the member states – and a Security Council Thursday at the level of foreign ministers . This high-level week, however, has a few notable absentees, in particular Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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